Friend believes philosophy is stupid

[ccmnxc]

Ask him what scientific proof he has that science alone is valuable in determining truth. If he cannot site you repeatable empirical studies for this “truth,” then his dogma diffuses itself and you can congratulate him on recognizing his own use of philosophy, even if it’s self-contradictory.

I can hear the special pleading already.

 

[johnnyt3000]

WHY does he believe it is stupid?

 

[adawgj]

Why would philosophy be stupid? Or maybe it’s his version of what philosophy is that is stupid.

 

[Ambien89]

Ask him what he thinks philosophy is. Ask him how it is that he derives a belief or makes a distinction in regard to any object. Ask him how it is that he determines moral practice and principle. Ask him how it is that he conceives of reality in general or what it is for something to be true or false. Ask him how it is that he understands certain language to provide an appropriate description of some object whereas other language may be inadequate. Ask him what he thinks numbers and mathematical objects are. Ask him what he thinks a theoretical-model of a natural process is. Ask him to distinguish between deduction and induction.

Ask him what his very criterion for making any judgement, statement or proposition is at all.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Ask him what he thinks philosophy is. Ask him how it is that he derives a belief or makes a distinction in regard to any object. Ask him how it is that he determines moral practice and principle. Ask him how it is that he conceives of reality in general or what it is for something to be true or false. Ask him how it is that he understands certain language to provide an appropriate description of some object whereas other language may be inadequate. Ask him what he thinks numbers and mathematical objects are. Ask him what he thinks a theoretical-model of a natural process is. Ask him to distinguish between deduction and induction.

Ask him what his very criterion for making any judgement, statement or proposition is at all.

I answer all these questions using contemplation; silently ask a question, and get the correct answer in due time. OK, I do not know for sure that my inner voice is from Satan, God or the inner workings of my mind, but the same inner voice is what asked me to ditch my PhD in psychology and pursue a life of contemplation, and provided me the grace to do it. Still no reason to necessarily believe it’s from God, but I do believe.

LOVE!

 

[WKW_69]

I cannot really provide my friend with any philosophical proofs for God because he practically denies the existence of philosophy. He doesn’t like that I study philosophy because he thinks that philosophy is self-contradictory and pointless because it tries to make sense out of a metaphysical world which is chaotic. My friend is a raging atheist who has made a religion out of science, frequently pointing out how it is more superior than philosophy because it has definite proofs and verifiable evidence. Since philosophical proofs are not tangible and only exist in a metaphysical realm which has no scientific proof, he sees no reason to believe why metaphysical laws or philosophy exist at all. How can I convince my friend that philosophy is in fact real and a very important discipline?

Well I wasn’t a very good philosophy student in college, barely received a C, but Philosophy makes us analyze our self and our society. Science can tell me what a substance is made of, but it can’t answer the question of why in the heck does the universe exist? Every time I think to myself there is no God or creator what immediately comes to my mind is then how does anything exists at all? An atheist I knew struggled with the problem of, “then where did God come from?” I think that might be a stumbling block for many atheists. I think we could simply write off the stories of Jesus, if there wasn’t eleven people and Paul traveling around the Mediterranean 2000 years ago telling everybody what they witnessed.
Life is a mystery.